In the USA, the name AMTRAK stands for a system that moves people from one place to another by train.

But simply by changing the letters slightly, I have defined a new two-tiered system for selling. I call it A-M Track.

A is the ability to pay. Never try to sell anything to anybody without first determining with as much certainty as possible that he can afford the product. No matter how good your product or service is, and no matter how much good it might do a prospect, you can’t make a sale unless the prospect can pay for it.

The M in our sales A-M Track stands for motivation. Just because a prospect has the ability to pay doesn’t mean that he or she is a viable prospect.

For example, from time to time I walk around resembling a walking mop. People looking at me would immediately know that I badly need a haircut, but they would be foolish to bet a dime that I will get one that day or even within a week.

I hate getting haircuts! Even though I can afford to get one, I am not a prospect because I lack the motivation.

Motivation doesn’t mean what others think I need, but what I think I need and, more important, what I want.

If I want something badly enough, I’ll find a need for it; but if I don’t want it, I wouldn’t recognize a need if it hit me over the head!

Therefore, after you’ve determined that prospects have the ability to pay, be sure the features and benefits of your product match their specific needs and desires as they see them.

As someone once said, “Don’t try to be the answer to their prayers without first finding out what they are praying for!”

Look at the prospect’s motivation from his or her own point of view. If you don’t, you may be taken for a train ride, but it won’t arrive at a station called success.